This is part of a series of eighteen questions from The Democracy Club asked of the Isle of Wight candidates in the 2010 General Election (background).
National statement five: Despite the recession, Britain should increase spending on public sector services.
| Candidate | Position | Comment | |
| Ian Dunsire (English Democrats Party) | disagrees | “Labour has expanded the public sector to an unaffordable level in order to massage employment figures and secure future votes – we have to be realistic about what we can afford as a nation.” | |
| Bob Keats (Green Party) | disagrees | “Britain should redistribute its support to Green energy initiatives that will bring long term rewards.” | |
| Pete Harris (Independent) | strongly agrees | “I refer again to a previous answer. Good public services are the reward for a well run economy. Slashing them indicates the oposite.” | |
| Paul Martin (Middle England Party) | disagrees | ||
| Paul David Randle-Jolliffe (Independent) | strongly disagrees | “This is exactly the opposite of what should be done, the debt mountain is far bigger than it was in the 1930’s per capita across the world spending more is pure madness.” | |
| Mark Chiverton (Labour Party) | agrees | “It is essential that we should increase spending on services for the vulnerable as well as on health, education, childcare and elderly provision. However, there is a need to economise and reduce spending on massive projects like Trident replacement.” | |
| Michael Tarrant (UK Independence Party – UKIP) | strongly disagrees | “There is room for vast savings in spending amongst the public sector. There are too many (overpaid) chiefs and not enough indians. Unnecessary bureaucracy should be eliminated.” | |
| Jill Wareham (Liberal Democrats) | is neutral | “Front line public sector services need to be maintained and improved. The sector need to be thoroughly reviewed.” |
Those who didn’t provide responses: Andrew Turner – Conservative, Geof Clynch – BNP and Edward Corby – Independent
The idea for this whole idea came from the excellent The Democracy Club and answers are hosted by the splendid
Election issue of TheyWorkForYou.
Image:fontplaydotcom under CC BY 2.0
